The Cove Update

The Cove Update:

The film was inspiring, but did it actually help the dolphins?

The answer is: YES!

      The slaughter is decreasing, but there is no reason to stop now. Since the release of the documentary The Cove in 2009 Japan has been feeling pressure to stop the illegal activity of killing dolphins and selling their meat. The secret is out and Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the situation in Taji, Japan. They are demanding a stop to the killing of innocent dolphins and the pressure seems to be working. No doubt, there is much more that needs to be done, but progress has been made. 

              If you are interested in keeping up with the advancements of the situation in Japan, the website for the documentary posts blogs every couple of weeks with updates. These posts come with good and bad news, but no doubt there is reason to keep fighting. The film has made a difference and will continue to make a difference as long as people like you and I make a big deal out of it. We need to continually make people aware of the situation and spread the news. If we do our part, Japan will be forced to do theirs. 

"Don't stop until you see the change you have fought so long for."

This is Spinal Tap!

    

       This is Spinal Tap was a hilarious film. For a long period after beginning the film I firmly believed that this was a real band and a real documentary! To my surprise, this band does not exist and was actually made up for the movie that was mocking rock bands. After coming to the realization that this band had way to many hilarious mishaps to be real, the "documentary" became even more hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film and I would without a doubt watch it again and again.
       I was intrigued to find out the history behind the filming of this movie and I came upon this fabulous and oh so humorous youtube video where the director and also character in the film, Rob Reiner comments on the inspiration of the film and other funny tidbits:

       I loved hearing Reiner's perspective on the film, it makes it just that much better!
       I also researched people's reviews of the film because I was interested if anyone was opposed to the mocking. I literally could not find a bad review of the film. Some of the best reviews that I came across if you are fascinated for your own personal research are: Roger Ebert's review and IMBd's collection of viewer's reviews.
       All of these reviews offer much applause to the outrageously comical film. It was a very successful "documentary" and one that I will personally enjoy watching years from now!

I posted just a couple pictures of the band from the film for further enjoyment! How can you not laugh at these crazy characters?! :)

Restrepo- The grieving process and the consequences

Restrepo- The grieving process and the consequences

       The documentary Restrepo caused me to start to see the differences between the normal grieving process and the grieving process that the soldiers fighting in Afghanistan experienced. I have personally experienced grief in a very close manner and I know that the process of grieving can take a very good amount of time in order to fully get over the loss of a loved one. In the film, the soldiers lose friends day after day, minute by minute. They go through death at a much more rapid and dramatic rate than is normal for any human being.

       In one specific scene in the documentary, the men are being told that another squad of the Army just experienced a tremendous blow and 10 U.S. men were killed in the process. The commander that is revealing the news to the men continues on, saying that they must grieve the loss of there comrades, and then get back out and fight to avenge their deaths and kill those who killed their friends.

       The way in which the grieving process was approached seemed informal and inadequate. It is not enough to grieve for literally 5 minutes and then get over it and just move on and continue fighting. That is not how it works in real life. You must deal with the situation and go through stages of grieving in order to overcome the loss. The soldiers were deprived of this critical grieving process and have suffered numerous consequences as a result. 

       Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among soldiers who return to the states after their deportation. What is it you ask? Below is a video that explains this disorder and goes into detail about the possible treatment for those who suffer with it.

       I feel as though Restrepo did a very accurate job displaying the emotions that these soldiers go through after losing a friend and fellow fighter. After the death of one of the fighters of the squad that was highlighted in the film, the irony can be clearly seen as the next scene includes a fairly upbeat tune that seems to make light the severity of the loss that just occurred. The parallel between the feeling that I experienced after that scene and the feelings that the soldiers are forced to feel became clear. It was genius. The director was forcing the audience to grieve quickly and move on and get back to the next battle just as the soldiers do day after day. 

       It is very sad to think that those who bravely leave the comfort of their homes to fight for our freedom have to suffer such horrible circumstances while they are serving their country. The positive side: the grief that those brave men don't experience when they are fighting can be worked through when they return back home, it just unfortunately involves a longer and tougher process. 

A Walk in a Soldier's Shoes

       I watched Taxi to the Darkside while at my aunt's house for easter. The conclusion of this documentary left me heated towards those soldiers who inflicted such pain upon mostly innocent people. After watching the film I had to drive to back to school and I am thankful for those four hours because it gave me time to think on the matter.

       At first I was angry as I had mentioned earlier but then I began to question every aspect of the film. It was disturbing. These questions ran through my head over and over again: How could soldiers treat prisoners the way they did? Why did they do it? Why didn't they refuse to do what was clearly inhumane? I could not stop. But then, I pondered...

       What if I was put into their position? Would I commit the same horrific crimes they had if I had been in their shoes?

       The conclusion that I came to over that four hour drive changed my perspective on the entire film. It is very easy for people to judge the actions of the soldiers as they are comfortably watching Taxi to the Darkside from their house safe and sound from any possible danger. But think about what the soldiers have to go through, day after day. They risk their lives to bring justice to those who have wronged the United States. They must follow a specific chain of command. The military police in the film must follow their leaders orders who must then take orders from the man in charge of him who must then take orders from the man over him and so on and so forth....Keep in mind that you are trained from the very beginning of your enrollment that you are to respect your leaders, no matter the circumstance. They are given a task and expected to complete it. That is the end of the matter.

       With all those thoughts in mind, coming up with the answers to the many questions that I asked myself became almost impossible to answer because I was afraid of the answers. I am not saying in any way that I excuse the actions of the soldiers in the film but I am saying that after thinking more and more about it I have found some serious perspective on the issue. The situation that they were put into was an extremely tough one and I could not imagine the emotional toll that it took on them, nonetheless what the prisoners had to experience.

       It was an emotional documentary that I believe was meant to fill the viewers with animosity toward the government. But for me, it did much more that that; it opened my eyes to the reality of war and made me question the purpose of the film from the beginning. Do you think Alex Gibney, the director of the documentary, would have done anything different than the soldiers he was exploiting if he were put in their situation?

A Walk Through the Recession

A Walk Through the Recession

       Charles Furguson does an excellent job at portraying the financial crisis of 2008 in his film, "Inside Job". He is superbly effective in explaining how it is that the American economy came to the point at which is was shutting down. After watching the documentary and understanding how it happened I wanted to know more about the affects it had on our everyday social society and how that compared to my own personal experience with the issue.

       Everyone was affected by the catastrophe, but I found a video that gives the smallest glimpse into how the ordinary lives of citizens was changed due to the downfall:

       The women in the video were only minutely affected, but it is a good starting point to prove how it is that the American way of life was changed during this event. In retrospect to my own life, I saw the affects on my own family as well. I was around the age of 14 when my mom and dad explained to my sister and I that we were no longer going to be able to go out to eat as much and that we would have to cut back our spending because bills were getting higher and paychecks were not increasing. 

       As a young teenager, I did not fully understand what was going on, but I knew that money was tight and that saving money was not fun. After watching the film and doing some of my own research (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqUGoVez8xg), I now fully comprehend what happened to the economy that caused my parents to be strained for money and I am thankful that I had the opportunity to learn more about it.

       This is a picture of my family in 2008, right around the time of the economic downfall.

       After educating my self on the issue at hand, what I find most shocking is that the billionaires responsible for the economic downfall are maintaining their salaries while the innocent American people, such as Cathy and Moria (in the video above), are suffering the consequences.

       I believe that Andrew Sheng said it the best in the documentary when he proclaimed, 

"Why should a financial engineer be paid four times to 100 times more than a real engineer? A real engineer build bridges. A financial engineer build dreams. And, you know, when those dreams turn out to be nightmares, other people pay for it."

Andrew Sheng in "Inside Job".

        The main issue at hand is that those who are truly responsible for the problem are not being held accountable and instead being paid more money to continue working in the very field they have screwed up. No doubt, we have come a long way from that point in 2008, from an economic standpoint, but the scars of the recession remain and for some will never go away.

Paragraph Transformation

Original paragraph:

       The first time the audience is introduced to a woman in Timothy’s life, they meet Amy Huguenard. Amy accompanied Timothy on his thirteenth and final summer in Alaska with the bears. Amy’s relationship with Timothy is displayed as confusing to the viewer. One cannot get a true grasp on what is really going on between the two of them. Amy is described as fearing bears in Timothy’s private journal and in over one hundred hours of Timothy’s footage she is only pictured two times, the latter time being extremely close to her and Timothy’s death (48:24). The mystery surrounding Amy gives the documentary an eerie feeling at many points. The viewer is forced to assume that Amy died doing what she loved with the man that she loved. 

Edited paragraph:

       The first time the documentary introduces a woman in Timothy’s life, they meet the shadowy and unknown, Amy Huguenard. For the first time in over twelve summers spent in Alaska with the bears, Timothy brings a companion along to accompany him in his filming; he brings Amy. The peculiar relationship between these two characters comes across as confusing to the intrigued viewer. The desire to understand and obtain a true grasp on what is really going on between the two of them drives the mystery further. Described as fearful of bears in Timothy’s private journal, Amy appears only two times in over one hundred hours of Timothy’s footage, the latter time being extremely close to their death (48:24). The enigma surrounding Amy gives the documentary an eerie feeling at numerous pivotal points. These unnerving sensations force the viewer to assume that Amy died in love with the man and his work.

Koyaanisqatsi?

Koyaanisqatsi?

       I am sitting here wondering what it is that I just watched. I am puzzled and my head is pounding from the various soundtracks that just pierced my ears for almost an hour and a half. The many scenes of our human life in the fast lane are still going through my head when I close my eyes. I can clearly envision the lights of cars in the traffic going to and from and every which way. It all feels like a jumbled mess. 

Global Warming and Hurricanes

Global Warming and Hurricanes

       After watching the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, which is focused around Al Gore and his fight against global warming I was intrigued to research more about how hurricanes and global warming are connected. 

       Being from Florida, I have been exposed to many hurricanes in my lifetime and I never was once told that there could possibly be a connection between them and the phenomenon of global warming. 

I have researched the connection between the two and have come to the conclusion that global warming does have an effect on hurricanes. 

The data in the film does not lie when it proves that hurricanes have increased over time. The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions stated: 

"In the North Atlantic there has been a clear increase in the frequency of tropical storms and major hurricanes. From 1850-1990, the long-term average number of tropical storms was about 10, including about 5 hurricanes. For the period of 1998-2007, the average is about 15 tropical storms per year, including about 8 hurricanes. This increase in frequency correlates strongly with the rise in North Atlantic sea surface temperature, and recent peer-reviewed scientific studies link this temperature increase to global warming."

       There has also been proof that the intensity of such hurricanes have increased. The below graph shows that with the increasing temperature of the water, the intensity of hurricanes has also increased. 

(Source: http://www.skepticalscience.com/hurricanes-global-warming-intermediate.htm)

       One can clearly see that the relation between water temperature and storm frequency/intensity is strong. To further prove my point, below is a video that explains the connection between global warming and hurricanes:

       With all the evidence, it is hard to argue that global warming does not affect our storms. I think that this is a major issue that needs to be attended to immediately or else our nation could be in for worse storms and even bigger catastrophic consequences. 

Feel free to visit the website for An Inconvenient Truth which provides even more detailed information and other arguments regarding global warming that you may be interested in. 

Why film Devil's Playground?

Why film Devil's Playground?

       Lucy Walker directed Devil's Playground in 2002. The documentary focuses on a few specific Amish teenagers who experience living the "American life" before they either decide or decline to become part of the Amish community for life.    

       I found Lucy's work with the Amish to be beyond real. Never for a moment did I feel as though she was trying to push across a political message or even her own personal bias of the Amish. Instead I was brilliantly informed about the struggle that Amish teenagers experience when they go through what the Amish community calls "Rumspringa". Rumspringa is a time when the young Amish, usually around the age of 14 or 16, are allowed to break free from the Amish traditions and rules before they officially decide that they want to be baptized and become part of the Amish church. In simple terms, they are allowed to party, drink, smoke, own cars, wear normal clothes, and indulge in any other American normality that the Amish consider "sinful".

       After watching the documentary I could only bring myself to ask one question: Why was Lucy motivated to create a documentary about these teenagers? What inspired someone like her to inform others about this mysterious Amish religion?

The Answer:

       Lucy Walker is not new to the world of documentaries. She has been producing and directing documentaries since 2002 with an abundant amount of success. Devil's Playground was surprisingly the first film that she ever directed. 

       I researched information on Lucy's work with the Amish and found an interview of her regarding the documentary that was insightful and inspiring. The link to the interview is posted below for your own personal interest if you would like a chance to read it for yourself. 

       In the interview, Lucy states that she became interested in the Amish after watching "Witness", a movie about a young Amish boy who witnesses a murder. From that point on Lucy's curiosity had been sparked. She stated, "I couldn't understand how these people could preserve their culture while they were surrounded by American culture." Lucy was also puzzled and astonished by how many Amish teenagers actually chose to go back to their roots and commit to the Amish community for life. 

       Lucy pondered the question, "What is it that brings them back?" It was this question that ultimately lead her to begin her documentary on this fascinating Amish tradition. 

       In order to investigate for herself the Amish and specifically the teenagers that experience Rumspringa Lucy had to earn the trust of the Amish, which was no easy task. She experienced numerous difficulties, but remained persistent. The end result was worth every hour she spent talking with the Amish families and their teenagers, the documentary was a success and has since it production, educated and inspired many that would have never heard about the subject if it wasn't for Lucy.

Want more?

Link to Lucy Walker's Interview

Link to Lucy Walker's Website

Photos: 

Lucy Walker's head shot.

Lucy Walker filming.

The Documentary cover for Devil's Playground.

A scene from Devil's Playground  of teenagers on Rumspringa.

Another scene from the documentary of two Amish teenagers experiencing freedom through dating.